hyatt



. C. M. HYATT. MANUFACTURE OF TOPS FOR BOTTLE STOPPERS.

APPLICATION HLED DEC. ll. I918- Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

Hi l .U

C. M. HYATT. v MANUFACTUREOF TOPS ron BOTTLE STOPPERS. APPLICATION -HLED DEC. II, I9I8.

I Patented Nov. 25, I919.

' 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

HIIIIIIIIIIHHIHIH stoppers to provide a sightly v and afford CHARLES m. nve'r'r, or ALBANY,

NEW YORK, Assm von To run nmnossine COMPANY,

OF ALBANY, NEW-YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

MANUFACTURE or .rors For. no'r'rnn-srorrnns.

To all whom it may concern: I Be'it known that I, CHARLES M. HYATT,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Albany, county 4 of Albany, and State of New York, haveinve'nted certain new and useful Improvements in Tops for Bottle-Stoppers,

exact description. This invention relate of suitably finished and ornamented disks of wood for use as bottle-stopper tops, that is, disks to be glued or cemented to bottlefinish therefor I convenient grasp for the fingers in removing and r'eplacing the stopper. Heretofore wooden cork-tops, as they are sometimes called, have been produced by methods which leave them rough and unsightly. In somecases they have been in cased in sheet metal, such as tin-plate, plain or embossed, but such casings or coverings but little to the appearance as a rule add of -the bottle, and often they area source .of annoyance by reason of sharp metallic edges and corners whichlare liable to injure the fingers.

It is accordingly the chief object of the present invention to. provide a stopper-top which will materially improve the appearance of the bottle and will afford convenient, easy and comfortable grasp for the fingers in removing and replacing thes'topper.

uniformity. To these invention consists in manufacture and stopper with less glue or cement further object is to provide a top having a highly polished surface but nevertheless ca: pable of being-securely fastened to the than. has heretofore" been possible, thus \efiecting a .Stillanother, ob-

method for making my improved stoppertops, which will turn o t the articles in large quantities with unfailing accuracy and and other ends the the novel article of hereinafter described.

drawings 1- have my improved top,

making the same In the accompanyin illustrated two types 0 'and certainparts of a convenient and suitable apparatus for pract'singqthe'method. In. the drawings, I

Figure 1 is a plan view, somewhat diagrammatic in character, of certain operative parts of the preferred apparatus for making my improved stopper-tops.

the Manufacture of of which the -folor pigment, if,

method and apparatus for able) means, not shown,

die 11.

' die 11, in which Specification of Letters Patent. Patented NOV. 25, 1919. I "Application filed December 11, 1918. Serial No. 266,291. I i

trating a tubular die. :for milling'or corrugating theedges of the corkftops.

Fig. t is ahorizontal section on line of Fig.3.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the blanks from which the cork-tops are made. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a finished cork-top of polygonal contour.

Fig. 7 is a central cross section'ofa finished top.

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of a finished the large recess intended to the top of the cork or stopper, to receive the glue top, showing fit down over and the small recesses by which the disk is secured to the cork.

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of afinished v cork-top having a milled edge.

The blanks from which the COIkrtQPS. are made are circular .disks of wood, as l0, Fig. 5, preferably maple,sa'wed from turned cylindrical rods of suitable slightly larger in diameter and thickness than the finished tops are to be. The wood should be sound, straight-"grained and. free from knots, wi h the grain running axially, that is, perpendicular to, the flat top and bottom faces. The wood must be thoroughly seasoned and the blanks dried-,-in fact they should bebone dry. The blanksare then stained, dyed,or colored, with suitable stain as is usually the case, a finish other than natural wood? is desired. The blanks may pregnating the surface with a suitable wax, as for example paraffin. The apparatus-shown in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a tubular edge-forming-die or.

diameter, and are sleeve 11, having. at one side a table 12 to receive the blanks (in'dicated in dotted lines) which are fed intermittently from a chute 13. At the outer end-of-the table is a re- 'ciprocating pusher 14, actpated by any suit-- .ward blank'on the table i2: shifted into the open gripper 15 comprising a pair of spring pressed jaws straddling the edge-forming The inward movement of the pusher to leave the blank di-\ is of such extent as with the aforesald rectly over and co-axial' s pp -1 .A longitudinal rib 12 may be provlded.

which the for:

position it is held by the also be waterproofed by imr.

v on the table 12' to. guide the blank in its 'movement toward the gripper jaws. As-the pusher moves in, it advances the first blank (indicated in dotted lines at 10, Fig. 1).. Upon its retraction the next blank moves into position, against the rib. A blank bemg .over the die 11, the upper die 16 descends and forces the blank down into the r The die shown in Figs. 1 in cross section, but it I that the invention is not 20 .spect. Suffice it to say that as into the flaring mouth of the die of the die and are the parallel-sided low the flare.

axial, the blank undergoes a powerful radial compression, Which is exerted'at all points simultaneously, forcing the blank to take perfectly the contour of the die. As it is forced down its edges are subjected to a hard rubbing on the highly polished walls themselves given a polish. Finally the blank comes down upon the lower die 17 and is subjected .to powerfuls pressure between said lower die 17 and the upper die 16. One of these dies, for example the lower, has a central raised or cameo por- 1 tion, as 18, circular in plan, so as to produce in the blank a circular recess, as 19, Figs. 7

e I and 8 to receive'the top of the cork or'bottle-' shown. I As described above, the edge of the top,

as inFig- 7.- The other die stopper 20 when the two are glued together may be shaped to produce the desired pattern in the upper surface of. the disk, for example words, 'letters, or other characters; or an ornamental esign, suchas the star shown in Fig. 6.

Both dies-now rise, the lower rising just I far enough to carry the finished' top the table and into the gripper, by -wh1ch it is held as the lower d e blank, which latter pushes the finished top forward from its position over the mouth of the tubular .die. As the operation proceeds 'the finished tops fall over the forward edge of the table into asuitable receptacle not and its upper and lower surfaceemay be shaped in the same operation, and the tubuthe edge may be shaped lar edge forming" die may have any desired contour-circular, or polygonal, etc.; or it may be ribbed, as in Fig. 3, to give a milled or corrugatededgeto the stopper-tops. Or

by a separate operation, before or after the plane surfaces shown in Fig. 3,

are shaped. For this purpose the devices illustrated in Fig. 3 may be used. In this figure the blanksare carried into the gripper 15 by-the pusher 14"i11t0 position over the tubular edge-shaping die 11. The plunger 21 then descends, forcing the top down through the die, Usually the plunger can be cylind'rical'in form, but it may be shaped to fit the contour of the die, as may be necessary or desirable under the circumstances.

With a ribbed or corrugated, die,such as is for example, the edge of the stopper-top is correspondingly ribbed or corrugated, as indicated in Fig. 9, which makes a pleasing finish and affords secure grasp for the fingers.

To give the utmost security of attachment of the top to the cork or stopper, the under surface of the former is itted, or provided with a plurality of smal pits or recesses,

as indicated at 22, Figs. 7 V and" 8.. Almost invariably in removing the stopper the user first givesit a twist; to loosen it inthe bottleneck, and'hence the greatest stress to which the top is subjected tends to twist or rotate it relatively to the cork other words a shearing stress. After it is loosened, the stopper in most cases is easily lifted out. Th penetrates into the recesses 22 and numerous lugs or dowels, so: to speak, are formed thereby, which effectually resist the shearing stress. The'rece'sses provided for the purpose can be very shallow so as to require very little glue to fillthem', and they are So or stopper,in

e glue or other adhesive used i effectual that outside of them scarcely more than a film of glue is needed. The total amount of glueused is-therefore greatly re duced, resulting in an important ec dnomy, especially where the tops are used in large quantities, as has ben amply demonstrated in practice. The recesses are preferably formed by' the die which shapes the rest of the undersurface of the stopper-tops, for example the lower die 17, Fig. 2. For-this purpose said die is provided with the proper number of projections or bosses, as 23. By

preference these projections are cylindrical in shape, producing cylindrical recesses.

. hen a waxed blank is used, the wax with which the surface outside of the recesses is coated does not give a secure hold for the adhesive; but in producing the recesses the projections 23 press small areas of the waxed surface into the body of the. blank so that the side walls of the recesses are bare wood to which the glue or can adhere.

As before stated, the firm rubbing contact on the surface of the tubular edge-shaping dienot only shapes the edge of the stoppertop but also gives the same a polish. On the upper and lower surfaces thefinish (as well as the shaping) is produced by the ressure of the upper and other adhesive used pronounced and, indeed, is impossible unless the contours of the pattern produced by the dies are truly circular and concentric.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the details herein specifically described, but can be practised in other ways without departure from its spirit as defined by the following claims.

What I claim is: 1. As a new article of manufacture, a

stopper-top consisting of'a disk of wood compressed axlally and radially and'possessing the finish and configuration imparted by such compression, as set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a stopper-top consisting of a disk of wood compressed axially and radially and possessing the finish and configuration imparted by such compression, and having on its'underside a plurality of recesses for receiving adhesive material when secured thereby to the stopper, as setforth.

- 3. As a new article of manufacture, abottle-stopper consisting of a stopper and a top secured thereto by a suitable adhesive, said top consisting of a disk of wood compressed axially and radially and possessing the finish and configuration imparted by such compression and having on thesurface next to the stopper a plurality of recesses, the adhesive extending, into said recesses and forming dowels'to resist twisting of the top relatively to thestopper, as set forth.

4. The method of making stopper-tops of the kind described, comprising forming a disk-shaped blank of axially grained bonedry wood, surface-waxing the blank, forcing the blank through a tubular die of less diameter whereby the blank is compressed radially to a smaller size and a permanent finish is imparted to its edge, and subjecting the upper and lower surfaces of the blank to powerful pressure between upper and lower dies whereby permanent configuration and finish corresponding to the dies is imparted 'to said surfaces, as set forth.

5. The method of making stopper-tops of the kind described, comprising forming a disk-shaped blank of axially grained wood; waxing the surface of the blank, forcing the blank through a tubular die of less diameter whereby the blank is compressed radially to a smaller size and a permanent finish is imparted to its edge; and powerfully compressing the blank axiallybetween upper and lower dies one of which is provided with a plurality of projections, whereby a permanent finish and configuration-is imparted to the blank, including a plurality of recesses on a surface thereof to receive adhesive when the top is secured to the stopper. 2

6. As a new article of manufacture, a stopper top consisting of a bone-dry surfacewaxed disk of wood compressed axially and radially and possessing the configuration and finish imparted by the compression with the wax pressed into the wood, andhaving in one face a plurality of recesses punched thereinto permitting adhesive to reach the unwaxed wood at the sides of the recesses when the top is glued to the stopper.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature. i

CHARLES M. HYATT. 

